The thing about lightning and thunder is that based on your proximity to the storm you can either experience them simultaneously or several seconds apart. Growing up in South Florida where we saw afternoon thunderstorms daily, I made a ritual out of counting the seconds after I saw lightning. We were always told that each second represented one mile of distance we were from the storm. It was thrilling to call out to light streaking the sky with “One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, Four—” And as a crash of thunder interrupts us, squealing, “Four miles away!!”
When I think about this phenomenon as a metaphor for life with God, I find myself reflecting on moments in my life lately that have a direct link to each other but often do not seem to be occurring simultaneously and are instead separated by chasms of time. That moment between when I prayed a prayer of surrender, surrendering all my raw desire for another baby and the moment that we found out I was pregnant. The moment between when our baby’s heart stopped beating and the moment in the ER when the doctor came in and made us aware of that reality. The moment between when I went under anesthesia for a D&C and the moment I woke up out of it empty and heartbroken. The lifetime between when we buried our baby’s remains in the cemetery alongside other families who had lost their little ones and the day Christ raises us to life in the Great Resurrection. The space in between these moments of lightning and thunder is where I have been lovingly found by my Maker. It’s a reminder that my perception of space and time, where heaven intersects earth is related to but very limited by the perspective from where I am standing. And along with that, the way that heaven perceives these moments is from within the thick of it all, where lightning and thunder exist simultaneous, intimately tying together things like the resurrection of Christ with the resurrection of all the saints that will happen one day.
I’ve listened to “Nothing Stands Between Us” by @johnmarkmcmillan hundreds of times in this season of grief and the imagery in it inspired this painting. Click my page to see the whole piece.